Professor Elam

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Simplest is Bestest

I have written a good deal about the importance of design.  And more magazine covers and business schools are getting on board the design bandwagon.  And so an ad for JItterbug  caught my eye. The trend has been to overload cell phones with features.  A phone, a camera, an MP3, a Windows Mobile program, a QWERTY typepad, no wonder these things can cost $500.  Now Samsung goes full circle announcing that Jitterbug does not play games,  take pictures, or give you the weather, or presumably stock quotes.  It features two buttons, yes and no, and a keypad.  Now there is a simple design. 

JitterbugAs Guadalupe observed, her favorite things was a hand operated fruit slicer.  Most of us have a favorite pair of jeans.  Chanel still makes No. 5.  There is always a market for elegant simplicity.  The service even features, are you ready, an operator, gee there’s a one hundred year old concept.  And it comes pre programmed with your favorite 15 numbers.  Service, it never goes out of style. Once again, Dr. Deming had it right.

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3 responses to “Simplest is Bestest”

  1. April Y Avatar
    April Y

    As someone who seems to be in constant need of a new phone because something else appears to not be working properly, ie the camera, speaker phone, speed dial or some other feature that is really not needed on a phone, this just might be the phone for me. Now some people will probably tell you that my constant dropping, throwing, or emerging in water of these phones probably contribute somewhat to these “mishaps”, and that may be so (but only a little bit), but on a phone with less to break it seems only logical that it would work better and last longer. Also an interesting thing about cell phones, it seems that we as a society are unable to go anywhere without them, and if we leave it at home and realize that we have forgotten it,we will drive back home to pick it up. I agree there are safety benefits of beng able to get in contact with help when needed, but now it seems we have to be constantly talking with someone. We all seem to have forgotten when cell phones were just car phones and then only seen on TV or in the movies and we had to actually use our brain to remember something we wanted to tell someone because we could only call them when we got home. Now that makes me wonder, has cell phones dumbed down our society? We used to have to remember phone numbers, but now with the cell phones, you just program it in and just find their name when you want to call. Of course, we have all had that friend that doesn’t call you for a couple of days, and when asked why they say they lost their cell phone and didn’t know your number. I could go on and on about the dangers of cell phones to our society, but I think I will stop my ranting here.

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  2. Margaret W Avatar
    Margaret W

    I have often said that my husband and I are being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, so this phone seems right up my alley. My kids know how to do everything on my cell phone (it does not take pics), but all I really want to do is get hold of my kids when I want to and vice versa. Kudos to the Jitterbug!

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  3. Jerry Avatar
    Jerry

    Now there is a cell phone for me. I always fall prey to the latest gadget and Im no stranger to text emssaging a full paragraph in 10 seconds but I always ask myself, “Did I really need to make that call or pay for that text message?” Like everyone else I seem to always drop my phone in the deepest puddle, it lands face down in the street, vibrates itslef off the counter at home, etc. The jitterbug seems a good fit for me.

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